Prepaid Bitcoin Vouchers Are Coming To Turkish Retailers

When companies or individuals are trying to bring Bitcoin to the masses, one of the main obstacles to overcome is how your potential new Bitcoin enthusiasts can easily purchase the digital currency. Bit4Coin is looking to bring prepaid Bitcoin cards to the masses, starting with 30 stores in Turkey.

Bit4coin is a Dutch company, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In order to bring prepaid Bitcoin cards to 30 stores in Turkey, they have partnered with Berlin based MK Payment. This Germany company is the largest electronic (e-)voucher network Germany, connecting consumers, merchants and businesses across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

MK Payment has active markets in both Germany and Turkey as of right now, and is looking to expand their business to a much broader audience. Countries such as The Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Poland, Austria and Switzerland are “coming soon”, according to the MK Payment website.

bit4coin

The prepaid Bitcoin cards will be called “Bitupcards”, and can be purchased in a similar fashion to be prepaid mobile carrier credit. Consumers can purchase a voucher, ranging from 50 to 500 Turkish Lira (17 to 170 EUR) in any of the 30 participating retail locations.

Once a consumer has purchased a Bitupcard voucher, they can enter the card’s unique code and their Bitcoin wallet address on the Bitupcard website. The Turkish Lira value of the card, minus 6% transaction fees, will be credited to your Bitcoin wallet address within four hours.

While some people might argue these transaction fees are quite steep, especially when compared to “regular” cryptocurrency exchange rates, Bit4Coin CEO Dolf Diedrichsen thinks this will not be an issue for the everyday consumer. Mr. Diedrichsen told Bitcoinist the following:

“Our main objective is making the purchase of Bitcoin more user friendly and easier for the everyday consumer. If someone wants to buy large quantities of bitcoins, they are probably not part of the target audience for this product. We are aiming for those consumers who want to test the waters in a safe and secure environment,”

Keeping MK Payment’s expansion plans in mind, the next step is bringing the Bitupcards to 5,000 different retailers in Turkey. In all likelyhood, this service will not remain exclusive to Turkey either, and we might see Bitupcards appear in other European countries in the future.

What do you think about Bit4coin and are you looking forward to their expansion?